Australian missionary's killer sentenced to death

A man who burnt alive an Australian missionary and his two young sons as they slept in their vehicle was sentenced to death yesterday by a court in eastern India.

Judge Mahendranath Patnaik, who conducted the 30-month trial sentenced Dara Singh to death and his 12 accomplices to life imprisonment in Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa state. All 13 pleaded not guilty and are expected to appeal against the verdict.

Graham Staines and his sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, six, were attacked in January 1999 by a mob led by Singh as they slept in a vehicle outside a village church in Manoharpur, 103 miles north of Bhubaneshwar.

The killings occurred during a series of attacks against Christian missionaries and their institutions allegedly by Right-wing Hindu groups aligned to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the federal coalition government.

After the murder Singh was treated like a hero by local groups and villagers, who hid him for a year before his arrest. One of the convicted killers, Mahendra Hembram, told The Hindustan Times that they were provoked by the "corruption of tribal culture" by the missionaries, who they claimed fed villagers beef and gave women brassieres and sanitary towels.